Improvement in fastening hulls of wooden ships



' 2S heets'-Sheet1. H sgumn.

FASTENING HULLS 0F WOODENSHIPS. .No. 181,603.

Patented Aug. 29,1876! 2 Sheets-Sheet Z..

ILS UIER. FASTENING HULLS 0F WOODEN SHIPS. No. 181,603.

Patented Aug. 29, 1876.

'ing composed of several ging strain upon the-planking,

joining ends of the flitch themselves.

HEBER SQUIER, OF GRAND HAVEN, MICHIGAN.

IMlROVEMENT IN FASTENING HULLS OF WOODEN SHIPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 18 l ,603, dated August29, 1876; application filed June 6, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HEBER S UIER, of Grand Haven, State of Michigan,have invented an Improvement in Fastening Hulls of Wooden Ships andother structures, of which the following is a specification:

In the construction of the hulls of wooden ships and vessels one of thechief elements of weakness is the frames of the hulls, which,bescantlings or flitohes, are liable to work loose upon one another, andthe futtock at the bilge of each frame is liable to work and split atone or both ends in the direction of the grain, under the strains towhich the frames are subjected in a seaway.

Another element of weakness is the hogceiling, and other longitudinalstreaks, tending to cause them to work one upon the other, and therebywrench the frames, open her seams, and leak.

My invention consists, first, in keying the and futtocks of each frameby halving a pin or treenail into the joining ends of both flitch andfuttock, which prevents the scantling from working at the joint, andtends to prevent the futtock from splitting in the direction or line ofthe grain by the wedge-like eifect of the pins in compressing the endsof the futtocks secondly, as an additional fastening for the planking,ceiling, and all longitudinal streaks, or any of them, a cylindricalpin, or a treenail driven through and into the frame, in such a mannerthat it will be halved into the edges of contiguous planks, and alsohalved into the sides of contiguous members of each frame, therebypreventing the working of the timbers longitudinally upon each other, aswell as the working of the members of the several frames upon Thisimprovement is equally applicable to the fastening of scarf-joints,deckplanks, and alllongitudinally-contiguous timbers of a ships hull orother structure, where it is desirable to combine the strength of allthe parts. Third] y, in a peculiarly-barbed pin or treenail, employedfor securing the tim bers together.

Figure 1, Sheet 1, is a perspective view of a portion of a ships hullembodying my improved system of fastening. Fig. 2, Sheet 2,

in the county of Ottawa and .verse pins or treenails a,

is a perspective view of a frame, one of whose futtocks is fastened inthe ordinary way, and shown split at one end, as frequently happens,while the other futtock is shown as fastened by my improved method, asis also that side of the frame. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of mybarbed pin or tree-nail.

In the drawing, A represents the flitches-or scantlings, which, with thefuttock A at each bilge, compose a frame. These members of each frameare fastened together by transin the usual manner, when the frame isready to be raised onto the keel B. Either before or after the frame israised, I take a large auger and bore a hole laterally through theframe, through the middle of each joint formed by the abutting of aflitch against the end of a futtock, and halving the hole in each timberend. Into this hole I drive a wooden pin or treenail, a, preferably ofseasoned wood, which wedges the ends of the futtock, to prevent themfrom splitting in the direction of the grain, and, being halved into thejoint, resists any tendency of the latter to work in a seaway. Where twofuttocks abut together in large frames I key their ends in like manner,as also the abutting ends of floor-timbers. The bilgestreaks, ceiling,clamps, and shelf-pieces 0, comprising the internal skin of the hull,are then bolted,pinned, or treenailed to the internal faces of theframes in the usual manner. I then take a large auger, and in the lineof joints in each frame, and at the joint of contiguous planks orlongitudinal timbers, bore a hole through the inner skin and into theframe, into which I drive a wooden pin,-b, Fig. 3, which is thus halvedinto the skinjoint, as well as into the contiguous members of the frame.These pins 12 not only afford a means for securing the inner skin to theframe, in addition to the usual fasteniugs, but also prevent contiguousstreaks of the skin and members of the frames from working upon oneanother. The planking D is then spiked onto the frames in the usual way,and then holes are bored at their meeting edges into the joints of eachframe. Into each hole a wooden pin, 11, is driven, for the purposealready described and set forth. The deck-planks E being spiked to theirframes in the usual way, they are additionally secured by the pins 1;driven throughholes bored so as to halve their joiningedges, and thusprevent them from Working longitudinally upon each other. To increasethe holding-power of the pins, I turn two grooves, c, in each, intowhich the timbers expand when the pin is driven into the hole, thegrooves serving as barbs to prevent the pins from working out. If eachhole be partially filled with tar before driving in the'pin, upon driving in the latter the tar will be forced into the grain of the timber, andthus prevent it from rotting around the pin.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. The method of fastening theabuttingjoints of a ships frame, or the fastening of the longitudinaltimbers to the frames, and keying the adjacent members to each other bykey-pins halved into such joints or into the contiguous edges oflongitudinal timbers and contiguous members of frames, substantiallyasvdescribedr- 2. The wooden treenail described, consisting of acylindrical body, b, having the groove 0, constructeda'nd arrangedsubstantially as described and shown.

- HEBER SQUIER. Witnesses:

F. B. STOOKIBBJIDGE,

WM. M. FERRY.

